AuburnChick's Adventures

What is grace?

For a five-letter word, it can be a difficult concept to grasp.

On Saturday, as I drove to the college for my day of classes, I tuned into my local Christian radio station.

The song I heard as I pulled up was Point of Grace’s There is Nothing Greater Than Grace.

I sat, riveted, as I listened to the entire song, remembering how this group had sung it last August at the beach.

The words gripped my soul.

Before I share the video for it, I wanted to share a few of the thoughts that have been running through my head since Saturday.

I responded to God’s call for repentance the day after my senior prom in 1988.

I was 18 years old.

I’ll never forget the way my heart thudded in my chest as I made my way to the front of my small Baptist church.

I was baptized shortly after.

Though I truly believed in my status as a sinner and my need for the atoning work of Jesus, I lacked something…

An understanding of the word “grace.”

Does that seem strange?

Some might question the sincerity of my baptism, but I do not, for I am quite sure that I understood, without putting formal words to it, the definition of grace.

It wasn’t until the Mr. and I had been married a couple of years and were involved in a Sunday School class that was taught by our church’s pastor that I began linking the word “grace” with a formal definition.

As the years have passed, God has continued to teach me just what the word “grace” encompasses.

Grace is the unmerited favor of God.

Grace is not given to those who are worthy.

Grace is bestowed on the downtrodden, dirty sinners of the world.

Folks, that’s all of us.

Think of the woman who Jesus met at the well.

First, He spoke to her.

She had been married many times.

She was probably the equivalent of the town floozie.

She did not speak to Him first.

At that point in time, she had done absolutely nothing to earn God’s favor, and yet He called out to her.

What is even more incredible is that Jesus began to name the sins that she had committed.  He knew she was living with another man without being married to the man.

And still Jesus chose to speak to her.

He offered her forgiveness.

He offered her grace.

The God of yesterday is the God of today.  He doesn’t change.

He still calls to us in the midst of our sins, and you better believe that He can name them off one by one.

Despite all of this, Jesus wants us to be reconciled to Him.

Here’s the kicker…

We can’t do anything to earn His grace or repay Him for it.

The woman certainly couldn’t.

She had nothing to give Him, except for her heart.

That is all that is asked of us.

In the midst of our brokenness, we have nothing of value to give except ourselves.

Too often, people use the excuse that they aren’t worthy.

Neither was that woman at the well.

Neither was I at the tender age of 18.

I was a broken person, from a broken home, with many, many hurts inside.

Truly, my friends, there is nothing greater than grace.

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Filed under: Christian | Tagged: Christianity, Point of Grace |